Robin Goldsbury

To a friend concerned about Bill C10: I can see the Bill C10 is worrisome to you. I just wanted to reassure you that we have some fantastic checks and balances to counter any bad legislation. Every Canadian citizen has the right to dissent and the right to be heard. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and...Continue reading

In honour of #RedDressDay, remembering the Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people who have gone missing or been murdered as a result of historical violence and systemic racism. #CanadianHumanRights

Green is increase efforts to reach 2030 targets Blue is stay the course Brown is to decrease efforts. Angus Reed Poll, April 20-25, 2021

Everyone can now register for a vaccine in BC. There are three ways to register for notification: 1. Online by visiting www.getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca 2. By phone:... 1-833-838-2323 3. In person at a Service BC office People aged 30 and older (born in 1991 to earlier) may also choose to get the AstraZeneca vaccine at eligible pharmacies with vaccine supply. Appointments are booked directly with pharmacies. They cannot be booked through the Get Immunized COVID-19 vaccine appointment booking phone line/online booking tool. Participating pharmacies are listed at: https://www.bcpharmacy.ca/resource-//vaccination-locations For a list of all Interior Health COVID-19 vaccination clinics and other resources, go here (bottom of page on questions) https://news.interiorhealth.ca/news/covid-19-vaccines/ To learn about B.C.’s COVID-19 Immunization Plan, visit www.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated

The Guardian has been innovating and on top of reporting digital issues for years now. The New York Times has also picked up the digital reporting torch in the ...last year or so. Where are the all informed Canadian media reports on the true dangers of our digital world? Why do we spend taxpayer dollars on the Canadian media industry and and only get mediocrity in return? #DarkPattherns are a result of intentional digital design. When will the Canadian government move past the fake crisis in Canadian Content and finally protect Canadians from digital design harms inflicted by Big Canadian and American companies on citizens? ... "Some things are difficult by design. Consider Amazon. The company perfected the one-click checkout. But canceling a $119 Prime subscription is a labyrinthine process that requires multiple screens and clicks. Or Ticketmaster. Online customers are bombarded with options for ticket insurance, subscription services for razors and other items and, when users navigate through those, they can expect to receive a battery of text messages from the company with no clear option to stop them. These are examples of dark patterns, the techniques that companies use online to get consumers to sign up for things, keep subscriptions they might otherwise cancel or turn over more personal data. They come in countless variations: giant blinking sign-up buttons, hidden unsubscribe links, red X’s that actually open new pages, countdown timers and pre-checked options for marketing spam. Think of them as the digital equivalent of trying to cancel a gym membership. There are plans in both the House and Senate to tackle dark patterns. And there’s movement at the state level, too. California strengthened its data privacy laws to include certain dark patterns and, in Washington State, lawmakers included similar language in a failed privacy bill of its own."

#signwars Shuswap Band News Suzie ThomasDiana Cote

For anyone who has ever had her immediate circumstances exploited for commercial gainwhether it be a $7 Diet Coke at the airport or an outrageously high-interest payday loana world of ruthless competitors guided by nothing more than blind ambition for profit is hardly a pleasant place. The upshot of such an approach is something dismal and squalid: Vulnerability is targeted, duress exploited, and ignorance thoroughly mined. Nothing about such conduct is especially civil. T...he rise of renegade capitalisma spirit that ripened in the ‘60’s and ‘70s before flowering in the greed-is-good decade that followedbreached an uneasy truce that individuals like Adam Smith had struggled to preserve between competition and cooperation, the two forces that sustained, as a moral and practical matter, a dynamic economy. If the generation of Keynes and Young had taken the expediency of the competitive drive for granted, those who followed returned the favor by downplaying cooperation in commercial transactions as an unremarkable act without any secondary effects of moral or social significance. See more

People are experiencing real-life accountability and consequences for pushing baseless conspiracy theories, denying science, promoting hate and violence, and showing insensitivity to others. If you want to claim those are conservative or Christian values, that’s on you. The plain truth is that people are experiencing consequences for being cruel because they’ve embraced the idea that being sensitive to others is politically correct. https://www.patheos.com//jaysondb/2021/02/cancel-culture/

"A Canadian politician could end up being physically attacked or killed if nothing more is done to deal with the rise in hateful comments online, NDP MP Charlie... Angus warned today. Speaking during a panel discussion, Angus said incidents like the security incident outside the prime minister's residence last summer, an attempt by a citizen to "arrest" NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in September and the murder of British MP Jo Cox in 2016 are things he never dreamed were possible when he first ran for office. "Now it is a possibility," said Angus as he called for a better system to deal with individual threats fuelled by online activity. "My concern is that without that, one of our MPs or some provincial member will be a victim of someone doing something really wrong because they've been amped-up or they're off, and we could have a tragedy." The comments came during a panel discussion on the impact of online comments on Canadian politics, organized by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and the Samara Centre for Democracy. The federal government is now drafting new legislation to limit what can be said on social media. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told the House of Commons heritage committee two weeks ago that Canada is not exempt from the kinds of forces that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol building in January and the role that social media played in it. Guilbeault is planning to set up a new regulator that would have the power to monitor social media companies and levy stiff fines on companies that allow things like hate speech to remain on their platforms. While the new regulator initially would be paid for by the federal government, Guilbeault is also considering the possibility of web companies contributing to its operating costs. Conservative MP Bob Zimmer said governments aren't keeping up with the web giants. "These social media platforms and big tech are moving at a 1,000 miles an hour and legislation is moving at about a mile an hour," he said. "They know it and they're taking advantage of that slowness of our response to what they are doing and they are making a whole lot of money in between." Zimmer said one of the problems is that the algorithms used by social media companies ensure that the companies make more money from heated political discussion that keeps people engaged. As for the threat of that online discussion fuelling real-life violence, Zimmer said the risk should be balanced against the right to free speech and the need to keep Parliament Hill accessible to Canadians. "I'm concerned by what potentially can happen but I think we should always err on the side of keeping that place the people's place," he said. Liberal MP Iqra Khalid who has herself been the target of hateful messages said the "fear is very real." She said some of her constituents hesitate to comment on her social media posts because they fear they'll be targeted by online trolls." Khalid pointed to the riot at the U.S. Capitol building as an example of where online threats can lead. "I think what has happened down south really helps us to understand the severe implications of the ability of certain groups to organize on social media platforms," she said."

Your say is important

Looking for a unique, local Valentine’s Day gift? Give a piece of history with your contribution to Balfour’s Chapel and Performance Centre. It’s a great lo...cal cause that will benefit generations down the road. Donate here at our GoFundMe page: https://ca.gofundme.com/f/balfour-chapel We’ll send a special note to your Valentine if you request it. You can also mail your donation to: BDBHA PO Box 2 Balfour, BC V0G 1C0 or drop it off at: Gill and Gift at the Balfour Ferry Landing. Forget the chocolates and candy. Give a piece of local history this Valentine’s. Folks, even a small donation to Saint Michael & All Angels Church purchase and renovation will help! We’ve under $10,000 to go and the deadline is looming. If you’re thinking about donating - now is the time as time is running short. A great big thank you to all who have submitted donations. Stay safe and best wishes for a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Cheers, Robin Goldsbury, Dock n Duck

Credit card usage has skyrocketed while credit card companies skim 2 percent or more off the total sale. It’s straining many small businesses with tight margins. Meanwhile Visa and MasterCard record massive profits. ... The way Giancarlo Trimarchi tracks the numbers, you might think he was a sports fanatic scrutinizing the stats of his favourite teams. He closely monitors the fees his family's grocery store, Vince's Supermarket in Sharon, Ont., pays to accept credit card t...ransactions, almost as if they were batting averages or league standings. He's very concerned about the trend he sees. As the pandemic drives online shopping, Trimarchi and many other business owners say the federal government needs to help convince credit card companies to provide some relief on the fees charged to merchants. "There's got to be a fairness factor," he said. "There's got to be a price ... that can be justified and worked collectively on so everybody wins."" ... "In 2018, the federal government struck deals with Visa and MasterCard to lower their average interchange rates charged to merchants on credit card transactions from 1.5 to 1.4 per cent. Yet, despite those deals, Trimarchi says his company is paying more than ever during the pandemic typically "well over" two per cent for online and phone orders. "It doesn't sound like a lot, but an extra 15 or 20 basis points on something that we can't control is frustrating, because we have to find a way to mitigate that extra cost," he said. While consumers don't pay those interchange fees directly, the costs are typically embedded in the prices businesses charge. Trimarchi said he doesn't want to raise his prices, but he also needs to maintain the slim profit margins that are typical in the grocery business. Now, several small business associations are also sounding the alarm. Many independent operators have seen online sales skyrocket during the pandemic, and they insist the rates they pay for e-commerce transactions are higher than those for in-store purchases. They're calling on the federal government to take urgent action." https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5905596

Housing First - It works! (Even fiscally)

Dan Levi’s mom

From Yale Epidemiologist, Jonathan Smith on Covid19 second wave: As an infectious disease epidemiologist, at this point I feel morally obligated to provide some information on what we are seeing from a transmission dynamic perspective and how they apply to the social distancing measures. Like any good scientist I have noticed two things that are either not being articulated or not present in the literature of social media. I have also relied on my much smarter infectious...Continue reading

"There is a stubborn myth, bordering on a stereotype, that guaranteed basic income is a child only of the progressive left and poverty advocates. It’s not true,... and never has been. Basic income has strong support across ideological lines, including from Conservative Sen. Hugh Segal and American federal bank governors. And there is compelling new evidence of that truth. This week the Canadian Chamber of Commerce joined the chorus calling on the federal government to create a basic income pilot to replace the one that was wrongly and prematurely cancelled by Doug Ford’s government. The resolution supported by the national business lobby group was put forward by chambers of commerce in Hamilton and Thunder Bay, both of which were sites for the provincial pilot. The resolution calls on Ottawa to create a basic income pilot project and assess the potential costs, benefits, pitfalls, challenges and outcomes of a nationwide basic income social assistance program. So ask yourself this: If basic income truly was an idea supported only by those who lean left, would it be supported by the national organization that represents small- and medium-sized business in Canada?"

The project is advancing as expected despite challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, a global slump in demand for fuel, a $5.2-billion rise in its estimated cost to $12.6 billion in February and ongoing protests by opponents, said CEO Ian Anderson in an interview.

A Democratic Socialist is not a Marxist socialist or a communist. A Democratic Socialist is still a capitalist, just one who seeks to restrain the self destructive excesses of unencumbered capitalism by channelling the government’s use of tax money into creating opportunities for everyone. Democratic Socialists believe both the economy and society should be run democratically to meet human needs, not simply to make profits for a greedy few.